‘Give us HS2 land to build new railway line,’ Metro Mayor

He said plans for the new 80km line are aimed at putting an end to “treating people in the North like second class citizens” when it comes to transport.

Mr Burnham shared the plans today in a report with West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker and former HS2 Ltd chairman Sir David Higgins, calling for an end to delays on the West Coast Mainline and M6 motorway which have reached capacity and become “major barriers” to growth.

The proposals for a Midlands-North West rail link can be built for cheaper than the scrapped HS2 leg and shave 30 minutes off existing journey times to London, the report found.

The proposed new line would build new tracks from the end of HS2 at Lichfield to High Legh in Cheshire, which would carry on to join the proposed east-west Northern Powerhouse Rail.

Mr Burnham said it would bring “huge benefits” to passengers, and could be financed through a partnership between national and local government with private businesses.

The report found that a new line is the ‘only suitable option’ for attracting private finance.

It also estimated that it could save the taxpayer £2 billion on costs from the HS2 Phase 2 cancellation by reusing much of the land, powers, and design work that has already been secured through public investment.

But some details around the plans were lacking – the total cost has not been revealed, nor where the proposed line would stop between the North West and Midlands, or when it could be delivered.

Mr Burnham called on the government to keep control of the former HS2 land from Handsacre to Crewe to deliver the new scheme.

He said: “It’s essential that land is retained in public ownership, there must be no fire sale, the country would repent for the rest of this century were it to give up the land it has bought, it is absolutely critical.”

The Greater Manchester Mayor added that it is “not good enough” for residents travelling between Manchester and Birmingham to expect delays as the norm due to the continued use of Victorian railways.

“We’re not having a situation where there’s a North-South divide with infrastructure, where we have to live with 19th or 20th century infrastructure in the 21st century, and the southern half of the country gets 21st century infrastructure,” he said.

“It’s not right and it needs to be directly challenged as I will continue to do if we don’t get a plan together.”

West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker joked that it is currently “less exhausting to walk between Manchester and Birmingham” than take the train.

He added: “What we need the government to do is give our regional economies and infrastructure a bigger priority than they have in the past. We’re not going to address the problems this country’s got by investing more in London and the south east.

“That economy and the people there have got more opportunities and are outperforming most regional economies globally, we’re not in that position here and the lack of investment is holding back opportunities for our people, holding back the competitiveness of our economies, and having an awful effect on productivity.

“We’ve got to improve that – it’s key to driving growth and prosperity for the country at large.”

Mr Parker also called for greater regional powers over how national resources are spent, saying that train travel could have been improved decades ago if city-regions such as Greater Manchester and the Midlands had the chance.

“We need to as mayors have a greater say on how resources for nationally important infrastructure projects on our patch are deployed, and the decisions around them” he said.

“If we had that greater say, lines like this would have been delivered 20 or 30 years ago, and they’re already 20 or 30 years too late. It’s one of the reasons why post-industrialisation our regional economies have been held back and the people in these regions have been overlooked for too long.

“We’re at a very pivotal moment here, we’ve got a new government, a new report, a new way of doing it.”

Sir David Higgins said: “We know it will be hard graft. What we need now is for the new government to work together with the business community and combined authorities – take the practical steps to make a new rail link a reality.

“We have conclusively shown that a new line can be built cheaper and faster – we now need to get on and deliver it.”

The Mayors say the process needs to begin by creating a steering group between the private sector, combined authorities and central government to progress development of the plans.

Mr Burnham said he spoke to the Transport Secretary about the plans yesterday, and that the Department for Transport (DfT) are interested in the proposals.

A DfT spokesperson said: “Transport is an essential part of our mission to rebuild Britain, and we are absolutely committed to improving rail connectivity across the North and working with devolved leaders, as set out in the Government’s manifesto.

“We are currently reviewing the position we have inherited on HS2, and will set out next steps in due course.”